Tribratanews.polri.go.id - Manado. The Maleo Special Task Force of the North Sulawesi Regional Police arrested a man suspected of selling rice unfit for consumption to the public, EL (40), a resident of Pulutan Jaga II Remboken, Minahasa. The suspect is known to have acted on Saturday morning, in the Airmadidi area, North Minahasa, by offering rice to several residents.
To convince the victims, the suspect argued that the rice he was selling was a type of Super Membramo. One of the elderly victims was tempted and bought two sacks of rice. Shortly after the suspect left, the victim opened the sack, which turned out to be mostly damaged and unfit for consumption. Residents around the victim's residence who felt sorry for the incident then posted the incident on social media Facebook, until it became viral. This incident was also reported to the Airmadidi Police.
Meanwhile, the Maleo Task Force which received information then responded quickly by conducting an investigation and succeeded in finding out the whereabouts of the suspect. Maleo special taskforce together with Timsus Tarantula from the Minahasa Police then headed to the Remboken area, and arrested the suspect without a fight, around 21.00 Central Indonesian time.
"The suspect and evidence of four sacks of rice that are not fit for consumption have been handed over and secured at the Airmadidi Police for further investigation. With this case going viral on social media, it is known that many victims have bought rice to the suspect in a similar fashion. It is strongly suspected that this suspect bought mixed rice at a market in Minahasa, then resold it for profit,” he explained.
While the modus operandi is, the suspect puts rice that is still good at the top so that the victim does not know that some of the other rice has been mixed with rice that is not fit for consumption. Kombes Pol Jules Abraham Abast added that this case is still under development to reveal the possibility of another crime scene. “The public is also advised not to be easily tempted if there are other parties who sell something at a lower price. This is to prevent fraudulent actions," he concluded.
